MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) -The 2025-26 Grizzlies season is upon us, with the Beale Street Bears hosting Media Day on Monday.<\/p>\n
The lead duo of Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. is back, while their former third co-star, Desmond Bane, is gone. New faces have arrived, and a new permanent head coach in Tuomas Iisalo begins his first full season.<\/p>\n
After a nosedive to end last season that culminated in a first round sweep at the hands of the eventual champion Thunder, what are realistic expectations for this year\u2019s version of the Beale Street Bears?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a group as we\u2019re kicking off this season that we have a lot of belief in,\u201d says Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman. \u201cI think our defensive infrastructure has improved significantly, I think our ball-handling and playmaking ability of this group has improved considerably. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think this group is capable of maybe surprising people you know relative to where it\u2019s perceived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite all the change, All-Star Jaren Jackson Jr. believes this year\u2019s team can be better than the one that had such a sour finish last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely, that\u2019s what we have to do, that is the goal,\u201d Jackson Jr. says. \u201cI say \u2018championship or bust\u2019 every season, that\u2019s how I feel. That I don\u2019t think personally will ever change.\u201d<\/p>\n
After taking over for the final nine games of the regular season plus the Play-In Tournament and the playoff series with the Thunder, Tuomas Iisalo was quickly named the permanent head coach after the season ended.<\/p>\n
The Finnish native now enters his first season as the full time head coach, with the chance to make the entire operation his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always prided on that, that our teams have had a very strong identity, and those things really haven\u2019t changed,\u201d Iisalo says. \u201cIt\u2019s still going to be fast-paced, very well-organized, and very, very high levels of effort. Those are three things that\u2019ll never go out of style.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iisalo\u2019s promotion to interim head coach at the end of the season coincided with a rise in Ja Morant\u2019s production. <\/p>\n
Morant is looking forward to a full season in Iisalo\u2019s system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it,\u201d Morant says of the system. \u201cIt fits me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memphis\u2019 biggest free agent add of the offseason was former Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome, who inked a three-year deal to join the Grizzlies over the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my game is kind of the one thing they were looking for this summer,\u201d Jerome says. \u201cI think you always want to go where you\u2019re wanted most.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the trade that sent Bane to Orlando, the Grizzlies received veteran Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who\u2019s been a part of championship winning teams with the Lakers and Nuggets since 2020.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s hoping to bring some of that pedigree to Memphis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely have the talent and the work ethic from what I\u2019ve seen just by being here,\u201d Caldwell-Pope says. \u201cPutting in the work with the guys, we\u2019re ready. We\u2019re ready for the season to start, we\u2019re ready for training camp\u201d<\/p>\n
Training camp will begin in Nashville on Tuesday, with the preseason opener next Monday at home against the Pistons.<\/p>\n